Contact me at bala@balaramadurai.net.

Reviews

How to attain a mind-like-water status - Weekly Review

I sat at the shore of a lake in the Himalayas, in a place called Rewalsar in Himachal Pradesh. Crystal clear water. No ripples. Birds chirped. Lush green trees dotted the lake. Buddhist monasteries, a Gurudwara 1 and Hindu shrines adorned the small town. Burning lamps and incense gave out a distinct smell that you can associate with places of worship.

A stone plopped on the surface. Then another one, then another one. There were a lot of ripples, with those waves dashing against each other. Then, the stones stopped.

Weekly review is that phase of the lake when the waves reach the shore and the waves slowly die out, leaving the lake waiting for the stones to return. The lake doesn’t hate the stone, but it seems to be enjoying the show.

I first heard, David Allen, the productivity guru, talk about mind-like-water. I remember reading somewhere

A week without review is weak.

We will see how to review your week, so that on Monday, your mind becomes the lake which enjoys the show of stones (tasks) hitting the lake.

Continue reading

Daily Review - Building blocks for a productive work-life

Productivity is one of my favourite topics. Some of my friends joke that I spend more time thinking about productivity than actually being productive. Recently, I read Cal Newport’s post on Taming the Productivity Dragon1 and I thought about–what is my way of taming the productivity dragon? This is a post which describes part of my system - Daily Review.

Continue reading